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Sunday, April 22, 2012

Breaking : Egypt cancels gas deal "Updated"

Al Arabiya News network has reported from short awhile ago that Egypt has cancelled the gas deal with Israel today from one side.
Haartez has published that the National gas company in Egypt “EGAS” has notified EMG that it will cancel the gas deal with Israel on Sunday. Of course this word “will” means that it is not confirmed 100%. There is no official reaction from Cairo or Tel Aviv up till now.
The Israeli media consider this a breach to the Egyptian Israeli Peace agreement. According to some experts in the Egyptian Israeli peace agreement there is nothing about gas deal to Israel. There is nothing regarding Jordan though as it is a deal originally between two companies “EMG” and “Ampal”
The decision was taken after the public hero aka Masked man has blown up the gas pipeline of gas to Israel and Jordan nearly 14 times. There have been many theories about who really stood behind these explosions. On public level there is a complete refusal for exporting gas to Israel in Egypt whether before or after the revolution. The Egyptian parliament after the revolution has demanded the government to stop exporting gas to Israel.
Already Hosni Mubarak and Husseim Salem as well former minister of oil Sameh Fahmy are accused of exporting gas to Israel among the charges they are already facing.
According to some sources Egypt supplies nearly 45% of Israel’s gas supply. The deal was Egypt to export gas to Israel for a very low price compared than the average world price for 20 years
It is worth to mention that there has been news through the past year with all the news of blasting the pipeline in North Sinai to Jordan and Israel about how Qatar was going to export gas to Israel instead of Egypt.
The decision is taken after the huge fire of the Suez’s Nasr oil co. which has affected Egypt’s domestic oil and gas supply. It is also taken after two days from Israel’s warning to its tourists to leave Sinai ASAP because there will be a terrorist act soon.
Despite many people in Egypt wanted to this happen , some on twitter say that it is a wicked move so SCAF would rule the country , well unfortunately SCAF is already ruling the country and it is popular among the public especially with stumbles of the MB.

Update :

Ok news are contradicting in Cairo. There are military sources as well the minister of oil in Egypt have denied the news that they cancelled the agreement to export gas to Israel while there are confirmed sources say that Cairo has canceled the deal !!
Anyhow there is news that Egypt has cancelled the deal with EMEG because it has not paid its dues to EGAS since 2010 !!! The gas has been cut since Thursday according to news report.
Ampal has issued a statement from short awhile considering the decision unlawful

Yes. The case has been going on for some time now because of the on-going disruptions (due to the bombing of the pipeline by the so-called hero). The Israeli company was demanding US Dollars 8 Billion (billion not million) for damages and loss of production. Egypt's defence was a clause under the contract referred to as "forced majeure" where events happen out of the control of the Egyptian government, represented by EGAS in this case. Egypt is represented in this case by a global law firm called Shearman Sterling. People close to the case have implied that Egypt has very little chance of defending itself in this arbitration because the government has breached its obligations under the contract. So this so called "hero" has actually cost Egypt US Dollars 8 Billion. Some hero eh????

The problem with arbitration is if Israel wins and Egypt refuses to pay, then Egypt's assets can be frozen abroad (I.e. An Egyptair plane in London can be seized until Egypt pays or bank accounts of Egyptian companies abroad can be frozen, etc...)

I'm not suggesting at all that I support gas exports to Israel. In fact, I'm against gas exports to ANY country because we can use it in the country to add more value to our economy. But I'm against the complete ignorance of many people who cheer for these acts and don't understand the grave economic consequences on the country from these actions.

The same people who are after the "feloul" and the suspected "crony" businessmen for allegedly getting cheap land and making several hundred million pounds from this, are the same people who are cheering the "hero" who has forced Egypt to pay this 8 billion dollars to Israel from the taxpayers money (your money).

Actually, its a bit more complex than that. The court case is being held between a private company (EMG) and the Egyptian government. EMG is held by investors from Egypt / Israel / US / Thailand.If the law suite was between the Israeli government and the Egyptian government, things would be much easier, cause the Israeli government has a general interest in calm relations with Egypt (and the gas issue was written-off long time ago).Since its a private company with international investors they dont care about diplomacy, their international investors will demand to get every dollar they invested in the pipe back (and probably more).

No Al Waleed it is just you who is waiting eagerly. Your opinion is highly moronic! Why? You have not a clue, huh? You still believe 85 million Egyptians can win such a war? Well just imagine: Israel will drop just one nuke on Saad el 3aly - and we are finished forever. The radioactive tidal wave will still be at about 6 meters in height once it reaches Cairo. Egypt would be uninhabitable for hundreds of years.

EMG is Hussein Salem and this felon is equal to Hosni Mubarak. It should be logical that Egypt does not want to channel more funds into the coffers of the ousted leader and his cronies.

This gas deal was crafted in a way that it maximizes Mubarak's profits and this is paid for by the Egyptian people, because the gas is sold at the same subsidized price that our government is offering Egyptian companies.

As Israel was well aware of this Mubarak-enrichment scheme - they will have to bear the consequences.

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